Uh-oh spaghetti-o's. Looks like it's time again for another round of harrumphing over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands: "China on Monday demanded Japan immediately withdraw its fishing ships out of the waters of the Diaoyu Islands. 'China has lodged solemn representation with the Japanese side,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks in reply to a question saying some Japanese boats were sent to fish in the waters of the Diaoyu Islands. According to the Japanese media, about 10 fishing boats belonging to a fishery cooperative in Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, left a local port Sunday to operate in the waters of the Diaoyu Islands, known as Senkaku in Japan. 'China has indisputable sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands that have been an inherent part of China since ancient times,' Hong said, stressing that any actions taken by Japan in the area were invalid. It is reported that the Japanese fishing boats have already withdrawn from the Diaoyu Islands waters, Hong said, without providing a time frame." [China Daily] more ›

Russia Today reports that the end of a 40 year old border dispute that's seen 340 square kilometres, or half of an island called Bolshoi Ussuriyasky (or Heixiazi island in Chinese) being officially ceded to China has warmed up bilateral ties and boosted trade. BBC cites unnamed Chinese reports that say Russia will also return all of Yinlong island (or Tarabarov in Russian) — a detail which was not mentioned in this report. In the first five months of this year, Sino-Russia bilateral trade rocketed ahead by 60%. more ›